1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a potty chair for use in connection with potty-training children. The potty chair has particular utility in connection with providing a portable device that may be used to facilitate potty training for families on the go.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known to provide tot-sized potty chairs to facilitate potty training. However, typical potty chairs can be very bulky and cumbersome, and not readily transportable. Thus portable potty chairs that are foldable to a small size are desirable.
Potty chairs are known in the prior art. Portable toilet seats and wilderness toilets are also known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,105 to Watson discloses a toilet seat and stand to be used for wilderness camping. However, the Watson ""105 patent appears to disclose a toilet seat requiring cumbersome assembly. Although the Watson ""105 toilet seat and stand requires little space to carry when unassembled, it would not be suitable for use as a child""s potty training device. In the assembled state, the Watson ""105 toilet seat provides only two bars to sit and balance upon, which would not be appropriate for a young child still learning to use a toilet. Further, the assembly required for the device disclosed by Watson ""105 would prevent the device from being quickly assembled and thus suitable for use as a child""s potty training aid. Still further, the device disclosed by Watson ""105 provides no means by which to catch or contain toilet wastes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,3633,536 to Tribble-DuBose appears to disclose a collapsible potty chair with a disposable bag. However Tribble-DuBose ""536 discloses a solid seat having legs that are pivotally mounted thereto. Such a seat would not fold to a small size thus allowing the chair to be readily transported and easily carried in, for example, a diaper bag. Consequently, Tribble-DuBose ""536 would not be suitable as a highly portable potty chair.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,105,655 to Starkweather discloses a folding, portable nursery chair that can be used for toilet training. Like Tribble-DuBose ""536, Starkweather ""655 would not fold to a size small enough to allow the chair to be easily carried in a diaper bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,412 to Spiegel discloses a commode chair with pail and seat support. Although Spiegel ""412 discloses a suitable adult""s commode chair, such a chair would not be suitable as a children""s potty training chair as it is too large for use by toddlers. Consequently, Siegel ""412 is not suitable as a portable children""s potty training chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,571 to Battiston et al. also discloses a foldable commode. Again, similar to Spiegel ""412, Battiston ""571 is too large to be considered as a portable children""s potty training chair and thus is also not suitable as a portable children""s potty training chair.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,804,121 to Singleton discloses a child""s toilet. Although the child""s toilet disclosed by Singleton ""121 folds, it would not be suitable for use as a portable children""s potty training chair as it would not be highly portable as it includes a rigid waste receptacle that must be emptied and cleaned with each use.
U.S. Des. Pat. No. 355,710 to Hostetler et al. appears to disclose a design for a portable toilet. However, the portable toilet indicated would not be suitable as a portable children""s potty training chair.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a portable children""s potty training chair that is easily transportable and that has a compact size allowing the chair to be carried in, for example, a diaper bag. The above-mentioned patents make no provision for easy transportability, easy set up, compact size, and disposable waste receptacle.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved portable children""s potty training chair that would provide the above-mentioned benefits. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the portable children""s potty training chair according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of potty training children.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of potty training chairs now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved potty training chair, and overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved potty training chair which has all the advantages of the prior art mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a portable potty training chair which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof. A folding, portable potty training chair is desirable for use when toilet training children. Such a chair would allow parent to travel, either cross-country or to the neighborhood market, with a child that is not completely toilet trained without the need to resort back to diapers. Such diaper use may be detrimental to the toilet training process. A portable potty training chair is needed that is compact, but that may be set up very quickly. Further, such a chair would provide a hygienic alternative to dirty public rest rooms for toilet-trained children.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a folding potty training chair of the type that folds in both the X and Y directions, which chair is easy to fold and unfold, and which chair has a seat having an opening through which toilet wastes may fall. It is another purpose of the present invention to provide a disposable cover for the folding potty chair, which cover is configured to contain the toilet wastes. It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide an elasticized edge around the outer edges of the cover thus holding the cover over the furthest horizontal extents of the seat while the chair is in use. It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide connectors for use in folding chairs, which connectors provide good support for the chair and are multi-functional in use in the chair.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a folding portable potty training chair constructed to fold in both the X and Y directions of the chair. The folding potty training chair employs a frame made from pairs of crossed legs, which are pivotally connected together where they cross. The crossed legs form the front, back and sides of the chair and are joined together at the bottom by connecting bases and joined together at the top by seat connectors integral to the flexible seat. The legs are pivotally connected to the connecting bases at the bottom and seat connectors at the top, allowing the legs to move toward a folded position. In a folded position the legs are nearly parallel. A chair thus configured easily folds and easily opens. The bottom connecting bases provide stable footing for the chair when unfolded. The connecting bases are identical in construction, making the chair relatively inexpensive to produce. The seat of the chair is made of flexible material permitting the chair to easily fold and unfold. The seat of the chair has within it an opening arranged such that toilet wastes can fall through the plane of the seat. In an embodiment, an impermeable seat cover is provided, such seat cover having an integrated waste receptacle arranged within the opening in the seat. In an embodiment, a cylindrically shaped carrying bag is provided within which the chair may be transported.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
The invention may also include a seat back or arms. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims attached.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable potty training chair that has all of the advantages of the prior art chairs and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved potty training chair that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved potty training chair that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such potty training chair economically available to the buying public.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new potty training chair that provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.